Many of those Northern cities in England featured special music scenes and Sheffield was one of the better ones. Today we have an excellent obscure single on 4AD by The Past Seven Days who disbanded shortly after signing to Cherry Red. Raindance is a moody very cool, atmospheric New Wave track but takes almost 2 minutes to get started and goes on for another 4 minutes plus. A predominant two-note ARP synth theme, a rhythm section (very reminiscent of Solid Gold-era Gang of Four) oblique and well-delivered lyrical content (the guy sounds like a more tuneful and less fractured Jon King from Go4, or a mix of the aforesaid frontman and Mark Hollis from Talk Talk) and jangly out-of-tune guitar shooting like rapid gunfire from a distant tree-filled hillside. On the B-Side resides So Many Others its straight forward with a super heavy rhythm section, some scratchy guitar and that classic synth going on. Shorter and much lighter than Raindance but in the same sort of vein (the single's compared to a rendezvous with The Comsat Angels and Gang of Four, which makes perfect sense). The production's really outstanding for a rare 1981 debut single and thoroughly comp worthy if you ask me...which no one did now that I think about it. This does appear on the out-of-print mail-order only reissue of the moody post-punk and theatrical Goth compilation on 4AD Natures Mortes - Still Lives.